In my mind, the original Silent Hill 2 is one of the best video games ever made. With it trapped on old technology I haven't played the game for quite a few years. When it was announced Bloober Team were in charge of a remake of the beloved game many people were cautious. The team have been a bit hit and miss with their output over the years. Thankfully they seem to have finally struck gold, sure this is a remake, so the story is known, but it is a damn good remake that brings the classic game kicking and screaming into current day. Some story spoilers to follow, but I will try and keep them to a minimum.
James Sunderland (voiced by Luke Roberts) has headed to the small resort town of Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his wife Mary, stating she is waiting for him there in their 'special place'. What makes this stranger than you might expect is that Mary died of a terminal illness some three years previously. James is sure there is no way his wife could actually be at the town, but still being in deep grief he just has to check it out. He arrives to find the town covered in a thick mist, and the streets and buildings deserted, save for deadly monsters that is. It turns out that him, alongside a handful of others, have been called to Silent Hill, where the town has judged them for perceived crimes and will make them traverse a gauntlet of terror in order to confront their guilt.
It has to be stated straight away that the remake of Silent Hill 2 is excellent. It looks great, it sounds great, and it creates a feeling of a classic survival horror game from back in the day. In terms of the story this is an almost beat for beat remake. There is added dialogue and some smaller events play out vaguely differently, but the core story is the same as it ever was. Thankfully that story is as strong as ever, and new voice acting has made it more engaging than the often cheesy dialogue of the original game. My problem with remakes is that they don't have the excitement and mystery of a new story. As much as I loved this game, it is a story I have experienced literally dozens of times, and with expanded larger locations I often find myself almost impatient to get to the story beats I knew so well. During James' travels he meets troubled teen Angela who is in town looking for her mother, moody Eddie who had fled to the town to get away from bullies, and innocent child Laura, who has came to Silent Hill also trying to locate Mary. Key character is Maria, a flirtatious woman who bears a striking resemblance to Mary, and who teams up with James for a decent portion of the game.
I believe the original game was around six to seven hours long, this time around it is a lot longer, with my first playthrough taking me nineteen hours to get to the end credits. It is expanded mainly with larger locations that are filled with more enemies. The town feels like a larger place now, and each of the games' 'dungeons' seemed to take a lot longer to get through. People who have played the original will be familiar with the apartment building, the hospital, and the annoying labyrinth, this time around they lasted for hours. I recall the apartment block took me over two hours to traverse, with that the typical time needed to get through one of these 'dungeons'. The level design has for the most part been totally changed up, and the puzzles all seemed different. Some cool nods to the original with 'deja-vu' style moments where puzzles and items from the original game are pointed out, but not utilised by James for the remake. The game world looks fantastic, with both the light and dark versions of the town being wonderful places to visit. For much of the game I used the recommended darkness settings, but I did eventually have to change this due to struggling to see enemies with my naff torch.
Combat has been increased, and felt a lot harder. You now have a dodge button which is essential to get to grips with to avoid the attacks of the more aggressive enemies. I can't say I ever really got good at combat, nearly ever enemy encounter in the game saw me getting hit a few times. Initially you are armed just with a 4x4 plank of wood, eventually you get access to a lead pipe, a pistol, shotgun and hunting rifle. Ammo and health seemed random, sometimes I would feel I had lots of it, but much of the later half of the game saw me constantly hunting for these items. Default enemies are not huge in variation, there are the creatures who vomit poison, zombie nurses, and cockroaches. The split-people thing gets an upgrade in that it later has the ability to crawl along walls and ceilings, then of course there are the bosses. Over the course of the game you encounter quite a few boss characters, most notably the iconic Pyramid Head. I often found it wasn't clear if these were boss fights you were expected to win by combat or if they relied on a certain amount of time passing before the fight automatically ends. Most boss fights were fine if a little bland, it wasn't fun to find the boss fight against a certain character was even harder than the original, even if it was probably the most memorable boss fight in the game.
I love the original Silent Hill 2 and it was a legitimate joy playing through this remake. Personally, I would have preferred an original entry, but getting to play a Silent Hill game in 2024, even as a remake, was wonderful. I have missed this series, and with this one being such a great game, it seems there will be more to come in the future. If you haven't ever played a Silent Hill game then this remake is a perfect place to start. It might have a '2' in the title, but the game tells a stand-alone story, and it tells it in a sublime and wonderful way.
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